Double Negative (CD)

Low

Amoeba Review

09/12/2018

Low takes bleak melancholy into a whole 'nother direction with their innovative latest, Double Negative. Fractured, startling, and experimental, the band known for creating the "slowcore" movement still imbues their work here with the desperate beauty synonymous with their name -- but this isn't the Low you've heard before. What's remarkable about these songs is how spacey the atmospherics get while Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's lyrics are so firmly here and now. Imagine seeing that one ex (you know the one) out doing everyday stuff...and the way it makes you spin out into cosmic, existential thought patterns. Somehow that's exactly what Low are conveying through the experience of listening to "Dancing and Fire," to name just one excellent example from this thoroughly moving LP. It's impressive to see a steadfastly killer band like this evolve into a new mode of being; this album's already getting "best new" nods from a number of publications and seems likely to be pretty high up on the year-end "best of lists."